Experience Family Matters Penned By Rohinton Mistry Available In Readable Copy

is a beautifully written story that focuses on a Parsi family living in Bombay Mumbai in thes, They live in a small flat, The mothers step siblings deposit her injured and aging father, who is also battling Parkinsons disease, on her doorstep when they are unable or unwilling to care for him.
It is about ordinary lives that are transformed by bad luck, and how they respond to these challenges, It is filled with moral dilemmas, especially for the familys patriarch, Yesad, The relationship between the youngest child and the grandfather is portrayed with such tenderness, The child wants to help and even finds a way of making money and secretly slipping it into the familys funds, It poignantly depicts family dynamics, the big changes taking place in the city, Parsi beliefs and concerns, and HinduMuslim tensions of the time period.
Themes include elder care, family bonds, corruption, sense of belonging, religion, and the generation gap, It is a bittersweet and intimate story told in Mistrys elegant style, It is slow in developing, but the payoff is well worth it, It is a book to become immersed in, Truly a gem. I usually feel a little bit of glow after finishing any book, I have the bad habit of calling every book I just finished "my favorite" until I finish the next one, But in this case, I really must stress that Family Matters is one of the best books I have ever read.
I never reread books, but this is one of those rare gems that even I want to return to,

If you took all of Shakespeare's tragedies, condensed them into a story about one family, and set it in Bombay in thes, this book would be the result.
Family Matters goes above and beyond the mundane and the domestic even though most of the action takes place in a onebedroom apartment and tells the story of human beings and their relationships to one another: both the sublime and the foolish, the selfish and the divine.


In this book Mistry makes several obscure references to India, Indian politics, and Zoroastrianism, and several pieces of dialog are in various languages other than English, but despite these barriers for a Western reader, I would wholeheartedly recommend this novel to anyone I know, especially to anyone who likes Shakespeare or otherwise enjoys stories that tackle all the really hard questions.


There are several funny and witty moments throughout the book, but overall the tone is one of heartcrushing poignancy, Sometimes it was literally painful to read this book because so many scenes and remarks and characters were so powerful and moving in short, this is not a book to be picked up and put down lightly.
You will get involved in it as though every joy and tragedy were happening within your own family, I liked this book after awhile, but initially, one of the characters, Coomy, irritated me so much I almost quit, Although the story is about a Mumbai family of Parsi's, and there are many Indian culturalspecific foods, religious customs and words mentioned, I felt this is a universal story about all affectionate, middleclass families.
But on the other hand, the universality reminded me of the claustrophobic and eternal familial struggles of all human family life, which affect most families throughout time, and I not only am glad I currently live in a twoperson household, but I found myself longing a bit for the hermit life.


While culture and the crowded environment, and particularly religion, for this family, appeared to crush the sparkle out of them, it was the moderate kindness of certain family members at certain times that preserved what warmth and affection they possessed, even amplified their love for each other enough to survive as a family.
They all seemed to feel family was important, even though each generation eventually succumbs to the constant downpour of the stresses of survival.


Each individual in the story faces a personal trial which tests them in their personal beliefs about their world and about who they think they are, and most of them fail this test.
Interestingly, of those who fail, some pick themselves up, admit their mistakes, and move on with more depth and wisdom, Others who feel they failed themselves begin to live lives of cringing fear, miserly grasping, and shrunken angry personalities, These are the individuals who bring cruelty and harshness into their family life, in this case, using religion to stifle and smother the natural bouyancy of everyone else.
It is clearly fear and angst behind their controlling rigidity, but another generation is coming up, in turn struggling to define who they are and untested, willing to fight against parental and cultural boundaries.


I think the novel is very realistic, and it speaks to those of us that have become aware cultural and religious assumptions can be a straightjacket as well as a support, and sometimes the tests we each face alone that show us to ourselves mean stepping outside what we believed.
In standing alone in that new reality, some of us accept the losses of our grandiosity and beliefs, while others curl up into a ball and hide, chaining themselves hard to the first thing which feels safe, no matter how illusionary.
For Coomy it was toys, For Yezad, it's religion. It's not accidental that both characters place their lucky talismans toys, religious texts into the same piece of furniture, decree that their artifacts are sacred space, and create a shrine, more mental than physical, which parches everything of joy.
Nariman, and later Roxana and Jehanger, clearly had their moment of testing and became stronger people with increased selfconfidence and more insight into their families.
However, rebellion was not part of their natures, as it clearly is for Murad, and it would have been interesting to see what happens to him.
I recklessly put forward the prediction he is the one to go to Canada, .

Mistry starts and ends the book with the aging of Nariman, a fascinating and bittersweet look at what the end of a long life is like, when the body is quitting.
Most of the family members reveal the best and worst of who they are through how they react to this intelligent, but physically failing, head of the family.
He has Parkinson's and osteoporosis, and after breaking his leg becomes bedridden, Nariman's andyearold Jehanger's relationship is the most heartwarming one in the book, as grandfather and grandson share each other joys and pains with a purity closest to what we all strive for in a relationship.
Watching them through Roxana's eyes who is Jehanger's mother and Nariman's daughter, made me think this is why people continue to create families in spite of the shoving and shaping families do to our destinies.
“Hes gone over the edge, deep into the abyss of religion, ”

It occurred to me as I was looking over the opinions of a few other people who had enjoyed FAMILY MATTERS, that a good characterization of Mistrys delicious prose might be “neoDickensian”.
The plot, such as it is, is absurdly simple and the movement in that plot, slow but steady and compelling, is all driven by the extraordinary depths, the motivations and the personalities that he has created in his dramatis personae.
Even those characters that might be considered as little more than walkon cameos are embellished, described and brought to life to an amazing degree.


As a young man in Bombay, Nariman Vakeel was forced by his devoutly fundamentalist Parsi parents to give up the love of his life and to enter into an unhappy, arranged marriage with a widow inside his faith, already the mother of a young son and daughter.
That part of the story is revealed by flashback dreams of a now aged Vakeel, painfully bedbound as the result of a broken bone and advancing Parkinsons.
The forwardmoving portion of the story simply tells of the ever escalating conflict between Vakeels daughters family and his two spiteful stepchildren as they struggle with the care of their aging and deteriorating parent.
Family, poverty, east Indian culture and society, life in the enormous metropolis of Mumbai, and the unreasoning demands of fundamentalist Zoroastrianism are the themes that dominate this phenomenal novel.


I owned FAMILY MATTERS for quite some time before I decided to pick it up and read it.
I dont mind admitting that I was nervous it wouldnt come up the standard that Mistry had set for himself in A FINE BALANCE, one of the finest novels that Ive had the privilege to read in my entire lifetime.
I shouldnt have worried. The words that readers will choose to describe FAMILY MATTERS are legion lush, mellifluous, warm, funny, evocative, compelling, poignant, sad, heartwarming, frightening, provocative, entertaining, thoughtful, bleak, raw, epic, gripping, moving, convincing well, I think you get the idea!

FAMILY MATTERS makes it onto my “highly recommended” list and then some.
Having read two of this fine Canadian authors three novels, Ill now be hunting down the third, SUCH A LONG JOURNEY.


Paul Weiss Knyga apie Indiją Greit man ją duokit! Neatsispiriu aš tam spalvotam indiškam žavesiui, nors tu ką, Vos tik pasirodo nauja knyga apie šią šalį, nenusiraminu kol ji nepapuola į mano rankas, Dėkui "Tyto alba" leidyklai, "Šeimos reikalai" mano lentynoje atsirado greitai, o dar greičiau iš mano lentynos nukrito man į glėbį.
Kai skaičiau pirmą Rohinton Mistry romaną "Trapi pusiausvyra" mėgavausi kiekvienu puslapiu, Jautrumo, liūdesio, šalies grožio, išskirtinumo, tradicijų, intrigos visko ten atseikėta negailint, Knygų mylėtojai mane tikrai supras žinot tokį nekantraujantį jaudulį, net širdį virpinantį, kuomet rankose laikai TIKRAI gerą knygą Tai laikant "Šeimos reikalus", oi kaip jis mane purtė!

Narimanas jau senas.
Jį kankina Parkinsono liga ir dar eilė senatvei būdingų nusiskundimų: sunku vaikščioti, atmintis silpsta, vis mažiau dalykų gali pasidaryti pats.
Jis gyvena su savo podukra Kume ir posūniu Džalu dideliame septynių kambarių bute, Tačiau Kumė nuolat skundžiasi ir dejuoja, kaip jai sunku šokinėti aplink tėvą, kokia didžiulė jis jai našta.
Nuo mažens negraži Kumė neturi nei vaikų, nei vyro, nei darbo, Tačiau turi tarnaitę, dirbantį brolį ir baisiai aštrų liežuvį, kuriuo nuolat linksniuoja Narimaną, Narimanas turi ir savo dukterį Roksaną, Ji turi vyrą Jazidą ir du sūnelius, Šeima gyvena tėvo nupirktame dviejų kambarių butelyje, kas Kumei ir varo didžiausią galvos skausmą jai tai niekas buto nepirko, Kartą, Narimanas eidamas gatve suklupo ir susilaužė koją, Milijonus sykių nenorėjusi jo išleisti iš namų Kumė pradėjo dar daugiau tėvą ėsti, O dar kai sužinojo, kad basono ir antelės reikės pradėjo ieškoti būdų tėvą išgrūsti pas Roksaną.
Roksana mielai priglaudė tėvą kelioms savaitėms, tačiau tos savaitės vis nesibaigia Kumė vis randą priežasčių Narimano nepasiimti.
Roksana neprieštarauja, tačiau nauji išbandymai pamažu griauna jos šeimą, . .

Rohinton Mistry vėl tai padarė nuo knygos sunku akis atplėšt, Kokie gyvi charakteriai, koks jų vientisumas ir kitoniškumas, Kumė tikriausiai pats bjauriausias mano sutiktas personažas, provokavęs mane pykti ir širsti kone kiekvienam puslapyje, Argi ne talentas perduoti žmogui tas emocijas, kurių tikiesi Narimano likimas spaudė širdį koks baisus jausmas žinoti, jog esi našta, jog tavęs niekas nenori, bet padaryti nieko negali.
. . Nuolat atsiprašinėti ir jaustis kaltas vien dėl savo egzistencijos, Gulėdamas patale

Narimanas vis panirdavo į jaunystės prisiminimus, tėvų sužlugdytą meilę kitatikei, tradicijų ir papročių įsikišimą į jo asmeninę laimę, nelaimingą santuoka su našle.
. . Per Narimano istoriją mes matome neteisingą Indijos kasdienybę, įkalintą nusistovėjusiose ir pasenusiose taisyklėse, Matome kaip priimti papročiams palankūs sprendimai griauna jaunų žmonių gyvenimus ir iš liūdesio ir neteisybės gimsta net kelias kartas besitęsiantis pyktis ir nepasitenkinimas.
Pagrindinė pasakojimo ašis, kaip jau supratote, yra senolio slaugymas, Prisipažinsiu, vietomis ir ašarą išspaudžiau, o kitomis net nusikvatodavau, "Šeimos reikalai" knyga kaip ir gyvenimas: visoks, Būna liūdnesnis, būna linksmesnis, jautrus, nesąžiningas, bet visada įdomus, Norintys pamatyti autentišką Indijos kasdienybę, ne bolivudines spalvas, pasinerti į talentingos rankos nupieštą šalies paveikslą ir paragauti kokybiškos sodrios literatūros griebkit "Šeimos reikalus" nedvejodami.
.